ENGLEWOOD, Colo — An offense that has to call a timeout after a long 2-minute warning break can’t be expected to properly run a third-and-goal play with no timeouts and only 16 seconds remaining with the tension high amid the do-or-die situation of touchdown to win, no touchdown, no win.
“I don’t know what the last play is, I wish I could give it a name,’’ Broncos head coach and offensive play caller Sean Payton said Monday morning in his day-after game conference call with the Denver media. “All right, let’s call it chaos.”
To begin the third and goal from the 8-yard-line play, Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson shrugged off a near sack by Houston defensive end Jonathan Greenard, before hurriedly looking toward the end zone were tight end Lucas Krull was momentarily open. Although Wilson got rid of Greenard, he couldn’t step into his throw. He winged it flat-footed, with all arm, and aimed high in a place where the 6-foot-6 Krull could get it.
But by the time the ball arrived, Houston cornerback Jimmie Ward floated off his middle zone coverage, stepped over in front of Krull, leaped up and snagged the throw for the interception.
Houston wins, Broncos lose, 22-17.
Turns out, the play was messed up from the start. Either Courtland Sutton or Jerry Jeudy, who had flanked Krull in a three-receiver set to the left, was supposed to go in motion. No one did. Krull raised his hands pre-snap as if to say, where’s the shift? The receiver routes were, as Payton said, chaos. Sutton broke straight left to towards the sideline, 11 yards away from the end zone. This was the Broncos’ top touchdown target. Nowhere near the end zone.
Jeudy broke toward the goal posts but drew a crowd of defenders. Marvin Mims Jr. from the right flank ran into the end zone but Wilson didn’t have a chance to look that way.
So Wilson threw to Krull, whose next catch will be his first in the NFL. Krull made a strong attempt for the ball and wrestled midair with Ward but couldn’t bust it free so the Broncos could live for one more down.
The question Broncos Country had was: Why was Russ throwing to Lucas Krull?
“There was no shift and so from your vantage point it looks like they’re calling on Lucas to be the hero here,’’ Payton said. “I can promise you he was in the progression of three receivers but the shift doesn’t happen. Then we’re playing street ball.
“What does Lucas provide? We do feel he gives us a real good receiving threat. Speed down the field and is part of our 2-minute, speed-11 group if you will. But I don’t blame you for looking at that play and kind of wondering where people are at, where’s the ball going. I was doing the same thing.”
Other topics Payton covered in his conference call Monday:
A wide-open Jeudy
On fourth and 1 from the Houston 35 yard line with 3 minutes remaining in the first half, Wilson scrambled up from the pocket for 3 yards and the first down as Jeudy was spotted wide open on a crossing route.
Jeudy was visibly frustrated the ball wasn’t thrown to him but in Wilson’s defense, if its fourth down and the running lane is open, you can’t not take it and wait for Jeudy to clear the middle. Wilson had to go for it. He did and he picked up the first down.
“Jerry went through a stretch where, I don’t want to call it a dry spell but certainly frustration,’’ Payton said.
Jeudy has at least two catches in all 11 games he’s played this season, but he has but one touchdown and he’s averaging just 44.6 yards per game.
“Even when we won he’s wanting to be a part of it, we’re wanting to get his hands on the ball,’’ Payton said. “That was a play, though, where they dropped coverage and he was a viable target for a big play and I think finally he was able to make a few in that game (notably a 41-yard catch early in the fourth quarter to set up first and goal at the 1 and a touchdown). And really you look at the tape closely and you watch all of it, holy cow, there’s about two or three of those plays.”
In other words, Wilson isn’t seeing some open-receiver opportunities. Then again, sometimes he doesn’t have the time to look around.
Pedestrian passing attack
For the seventh time in eight games, Wilson finished with less than 200 yards passing. For the season, the Broncos rank 26th in the league in passing with 183.3 passing yards per game. (The Dolphins are No. 1 with 285.1 yards per game, or better than 100 yards more).
“It’s a combination of things,’’ Payton said. “It starts with protection. Communication has to be on point.’’
Besides the final play non-shift, there was another red-zone play on the final series where the offensive line crashed down from right to left, but Wilson from the pocket rolled right. Houston rookie defensive end Willie Anderson Jr. ran at Wilson untouched, blowing up the play. Anderson had two sacks, four quarterback hits and a partially blocked punt.
As for the protection issues the Broncos’ offensive line had Sunday, Payton said: “Probably two or three different things. There’s push from the right side (Anderson). We’ve got to be able to stop that. Give them credit, they’ve got a good group, a good young group, guys that can rush the passer.
“We leave a little early a couple of times (Wilson taking off) and then pretty soon you’re pocket’s compromised and now you’re better off being outside the pocket. Just from a consistency standpoint, I thought we handled better some of the play-action stuff, our protections were good for some of the down-the-field throws, but down-in and down-out, we’ve got to be more consistent there.’’
On whether loss to Texans feels different after a 5-game win streak compared to losses during 1-5 start.
“I think they all stink, losses do,’’ Payton said. “They’re all disappointing. What I said to the team a little bit earlier is, you’re going to play 17 games and are you going to be gunpowder ready for each one of those? I’m not so sure that you are. And yet yesterday the game despite how poorly we started you’re going to be frustrated when you watch the tape and you see the multiple opportunities that we had.
“But we let a guy (Willie Anderson Jr.) run free early in the game on a punt rush. Defensively we’re off the field in a red-zone situation, we let a rookie (C.J. Stroud) bait us (Alex Singleton) into a personal foul. That’s four points. Instead of finishing that game needing a touchdown, we’re kicking a field goal to win.
“Offensively, we talked about it, communication. The communication needs to improve especially on the road. Too many snaps where guys aren’t ready or we didn’t get the shift or we didn’t get the call and that’s troubling especially this time of the year.”
On DiNucci love
The Broncos elevated quarterback Ben DiNucci from their practice squad Saturday but didn’t activate him to become the No. 3 emergency quarterback behind Wilson and No. 2 QB Jarrett Stidham for the game Sunday against the Texans. Usually practice squad players are elevated for the purpose of playing on game day.
In DiNucci’s case, besides putting a little more money in his pocket, the procedural move helped show the quarterback how much the team likes him. Recruiting your own isn’t just for college. Look around the NFL. Cleveland and the New York Jets are on their fourth quarterbacks. The Steelers, Bengals, Colts, Vikings, Patriots and Giants are among other teams who figure to be looking backup quarterback upgrades.
The last time anyone saw DiNucci, he played well for the XFL Seattle Dragons and the NFL preseason for the Broncos. He started a game for the Cowboys in 2020. Earlier this season, another team was interested in signing DiNucci away from the Broncos’ practice squad but he stayed.
“It’s a way for us to help a player relative to games up, games on active roster,’’ Payton said. “Sometimes it gets competitive with another team trying to take a player from you. It’s a way for us to help invest in someone that we want, that we see being here as a young developmental player.”
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